The Israeli army detained two settlers, out of 16 it had arrested, after determining they planned the attacks on Palestinian villages, a week after 400 extremist Jewish settlers attacked the town of Huwara, south of Nablus.
Security sources said the two settlers did not cooperate with the interrogators, and it seems they were trained on passing interrogations without making confessions.
Authorities put the settlers under administrative detention after reliable information came to light about their plans to carry out a bloody attack, including burning homes, destroying cars, and attacking Palestinian citizens.
The Israeli authorities did not disclose their identities.
Huwara was recently attacked by hundreds of settlers, which Israeli authorities described as a "pogrom" and compared to the "Crystal Night" when German Nazis attacked Jews in 1938.
The attack sparked outrage among the Palestinian, Arab, and international public. Tensions were further enflamed when Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for "wiping out" Huwara. He was later forced to retract his remarks.
The statements turned Smotrich into a persona non grata in the US, so much so that he may not be granted entry into the country although he holds US citizenship.
Meanwhile, the deliberations of the Knesset's National Security Committee revealed that the Israeli police trained and funded a battalion of civilian volunteers from the Jewish residents of Lod in preparation for "possible tensions during Ramadan month."
On Monday, Israel’s Channel Kan 11 reported that Knesset member Zvika Fogel received information that the volunteer unit will serve as a special protection squad within the police in anticipation of possible riots during Ramadan, which begins later in March.
Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir welcomed the move, saying the police need reinforcements.
The report explained that the move stems from previous unrest in other cities.
In 2021, Lod, inhabited by about 33,000 Palestinian Arabs, who comprise 35 percent of the city's population, witnessed major clashes between Palestinians and Jewish settlers from settlements in the West Bank. More than 300 people, mostly Arabs, were arrested after the settlers shot dead a young Arab, Musa Hassouna.
The Israeli police intend to apply this model in other cities, according to information available to the parliamentary National Security Committee.
